Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Saying X would make a good candidate except for Y is the issue of course, Y exists and is known.  

That a candidate is a veteran is fine with me, Rueben Gallego (D) Senator elect in AZ, served with my son's unit, and wrote a book about it.  So, he's not only a veteran but also a Marine with combat experience and a CAR.  Mayne that made a difference.  He's pretty liberal, but not crazy progressive.

I lean to thinking combat vets understand a bit about how war is a really really bad thing and MIGHT not get us into conflicts as readily as others.

Of course, JFK was a combat vet and got on the road to the Vietnam conflict and Bush 2 got us into Iraq and Afg, but he never saw combat of course.  Carter was in the Navy.

Bush

He is so forgettable. Heh.

He is so forgettable. Heh.

And saying he served is....technically true?  But I mean someone who really served.  

Pretty sure he's talking about Bush Senior, who was a decorated bomber pilot in WW2 who completed 58 combat missions, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and three air medals during his career.

A person in the National Guard served and is considered a veteran though the term doesn't have a well defined criteria.  Is a person who took a year of ROTC in college a vet?  I'd say not.  How about a person with a less than honorable discharge?  Probably not depending.  How about a person who never deployed but was in the NG four years?

I'd say broadly speaking if you have a DD 214 you served and can call yourself a veteran.

Lt. Bush being rescued after being shot down by a Japanese pilot.

FDR was never in the military.  Many Presidents back then never served.  It was a thing after the Civil War because generals had name recognition, then it slid away some as time passed.  Then Truman and Ike restarted it. 


From 1909 to 1945, no President had military service.